Moscow Car Bomb Wounds Former Aide to Pro-Russian Ex-Ukrainian PM Azarov

admin · November 13, 2026 · 5 min read

Lesoparkovaya metro station in Moscow's Chertanovo district, where a car bomb wounded Sergei Zavorotniy on November 13, 2026

A car bomb in Moscow wounded Sergei Zavorotniy, a former top aide to pro-Russian former Ukrainian prime minister Mykola Azarov, on Friday, Russian investigators said. It was the second such explosion in Russia in two days, and the latest in a series of apparent assassination attempts inside the country.

Zavorotniy was hospitalised after the car he was driving blew up on a street in Chertanovo, a district in southern Moscow, according to a statement from Russia’s Investigative Committee, which handles serious crimes. The committee said it was investigating the incident.

Russian media outlets Ren TV and the 112 Telegram channel reported that Zavorotniy had lost his left arm in the attack and was in hospital with a concussion, rib fractures and other injuries. Those injury details have not been confirmed by investigators. The Baza Telegram channel published a photograph of a black four-door car with a smashed windshield, doors and front bumper on a city street.

Second blast in two days

The Moscow explosion came a day after a Russian military officer was killed by a car bomb in St. Petersburg on Thursday. No one has claimed responsibility for either blast, and investigators have not publicly named a suspect in Friday’s attack.

Moscow has blamed Ukraine for previous assassinations of senior military officials and people linked to Russia. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine on Friday, and Kyiv has not commented on Thursday’s attack either. Ukrainian sources have claimed responsibility in some cases and denied involvement in others, Reuters reported.

Zavorotniy’s former boss, Azarov, told Russia’s TASS state news agency on Friday that he had no information about the car bomb, except that Zavorotniy had survived.

Who is Sergei Zavorotniy?

Zavorotniy became Azarov’s top aide after a career as a foreign correspondent in Latin America during the Soviet era for the Moscow-based Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper, which had a peak daily circulation of 21 million copies.

Alexander Kots, who covers the Ukraine war for the newspaper, described Zavorotniy on Friday as a historian of Latin America who wrote his doctoral thesis on Cuba. He said Zavorotniy had once chatted with Colombian author Gabriel Garcia Marquez in a hotel lobby in Mexico and had penetrated the inner circle of former US-backed Chilean military ruler Augusto Pinochet.

After Zavorotniy moved to Russia in 2014, he began working as a political commentator, writing articles criticising the Ukrainian security establishment, according to Kots.

Background: Azarov and the Maidan Revolution

Azarov served as Ukraine’s prime minister from 2010 to 2014. He and then-president Viktor Yanukovych fled to Russia in 2014, when street protests that became known as the Maidan Revolution ousted Yanukovych after he backed away from a pledge to develop closer ties with the European Union. More than 100 demonstrators were killed in Kyiv as security forces cracked down on the mass protests.

In 2019, a Ukrainian court sentenced Yanukovych to 13 years in prison in absentia for treason, and Kyiv later placed sanctions on him and Azarov. Zavorotniy called the sanctions against his former boss emblematic of “a kind of Ukrainian-style McCarthyism, where local authorities simply ‘snap to attention’ and carry out the orders of their overseas supervisors,” in comments to Russia’s RBC newspaper.

Why this matters

The blast adds to a growing list of bombings and killings inside Russia targeting military officers and figures linked to the war in Ukraine. The two explosions in two days, in the country’s two largest cities, will raise fresh questions about security inside Russia and about whether the campaign of attacks is escalating.

It also comes at a sensitive moment for diplomacy. Russia and Ukraine opened their first U.S.-brokered talks in nine months in Abu Dhabi this week, and U.S.-brokered peace talks in Abu Dhabi ended this week without a major breakthrough, although the two sides agreed to a large prisoner exchange. A new round of violence inside Russia could complicate any further negotiations.

Latest developments

Russia’s Investigative Committee said it was investigating the Moscow blast. No suspect has been named.
Azarov confirmed to TASS that Zavorotniy survived the explosion.
Ukraine has not commented on either this week’s car bombings.
The exact extent of Zavorotniy’s injuries has not been officially confirmed; reports of a lost arm, a concussion and rib fractures come from Russian media outlets, not investigators.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who was wounded in the Moscow car bomb?

Sergei Zavorotniy, a former top aide and onetime spokesman for Mykola Azarov, Ukraine’s prime minister from 2010 to 2014. He was hospitalised after the car he was driving exploded in Moscow’s Chertanovo district on Friday, November 13, 2026.

Was anyone killed in the Moscow blast?

No deaths have been reported in the Moscow explosion. Zavorotniy survived, according to Azarov. A separate car bomb in St. Petersburg on Thursday killed a member of the Russian military.

Has anyone claimed responsibility?

No. Neither blast has been claimed, and Russian investigators have not named a suspect. Moscow has blamed Ukraine for previous assassinations, but Ukraine has not commented on either attack this week.

What is known about Zavorotniy’s injuries?

Russian media outlets Ren TV and the 112 Telegram channel reported that he lost his left arm and suffered a concussion and rib fractures. Investigators have not officially confirmed those details.

The investigation is continuing, and Russian authorities have released no further details about how the bomb was placed or who may be behind it. Any update on Zavorotniy’s condition or on arrests in the case will be the next key development to watch.